On Monday, I told you what I'd be eating this week. Like many of you, I have a somewhat crazy, hectic existence, juggling work, home, family, friends, blogging, admiring handbags and more.
Sometimes things don't go to plan.
In fact, that is why I plan. It makes things easier when it all goes wrong.
The hiccup
On Wednesday, I planned to go to the butcher (opening hours aren't all that open here in Perth-town) but ended up in the office instead.
Surprisingly, I couldn't find any lovely cooked crab or fresh, home-made angelhair pasta or even any beautifully hung sirloin steak in my CBD office. I did however find an overstuffed in-tray, too many emails and a meeting or two. Not that tasty. But hey - I had leftovers for dinner! Thanks, Tuesday!
The complication
By Thursday, my eyes were bulging, my nose was running and my brain was trying to chip its way out of my skull. I DO NOT HAVE SWINE FLU. My husband announced he would be going to the pub after work (sometimes he forgets about the existence of Fridays).
At about 7:30pm it occured to me I should probably find out if he intended to come home any time soon. He told me he'd be getting the 8:00 bus home. Good. Great. I continued to chat to a friend on facebook.
Photo: Bus Stop 3 by Bartek Kuzia
At 8:10 he called when he remembered that there *is* no bus at 8:00pm. So I threw some clothes on, got in the car and proceeded to drive a few blocks past where I said I'd pick him up. A roundabout or two later he was in the car, it was 8:30pm and we were hungry (and he was slightly drunk). We went to KFC and had zinger burgers (no chips!).
Photo: I'm sorry, I can't be perfect by Leeo
It wasn't that bad. I am not perfect.
The plan is dead
So, here comes Friday, my brain had pushed itself halfway out my right eye, the house was spinning and my tongue didn't know how to make sounds any more. My husband called a few times and on the 3rd time I answered it and slurred at him that he should come home early because gobbledegook. I don't know if he responded because I think I hung up then.
He got home at 4:30pm (I was still in bed), he attended to the dry cleaning and then made dinner of some sort. It resembled food and I ate it and I think I felt better because then I went to sleep.
Photo: body by wise.adam
Flexibility - adapt, change, compromise!
A menu plan is a guideline to make things easier for yourself - when grocery shopping, when you get home tired from work and don't have to think about what to cook.
It is not the be all and end all.
It must be flexible.
As Chive Talkin says - you rule your menu plan - it does not rule you!
What now?
So now it is Saturday and I'm about to head off to the friendly neighbourhood butcher to pick up some steak. The herbs and vegetables are in the fridge waiting to be turned into seared beef and noodle Thai-inspired loveliness.
I'm cooking the beef first, not the crab, because coriander and mint can be a little fragile in the fridge, whereas lemons grow on trees. I'm also still slightly delirious and feverish (if you can't tell) and it is always easier to cook something you've cooked a million times.
The angelhair and crab now gets moved onto next week's menu and my sister, her boyfriend and my grandmother can call in a dinner rain check. Easy!
How was it for you?
Did you have a crazy week? Or did things go to plan for you? Let me know in the comments.
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]]>I've previously mentioned how I use technology to plan my meals and write my shopping list. Of course, not everything is digital - I still have handwritten, scribbled notes and many favourite, sauce splattered and annotated cookbooks.
Try something new
I like to try at least one new recipe a week, and this may come from a cookbook, an idea posted on another blog, or something I invented in my sleep (this happens fairly often). This meal is usually scheduled for a weekend or a day I'm not in the office. I like to make things as easy for myself as possible.
Keep it fresh
My planning also takes into account my access to fresh produce. I prefer not to freeze steak or seafood for example, so I will always plan those meals around when I can buy fresh.
Save time with bulk cooking
I also like to ensure that at least one meal a week is something that can be doubled or tripled. I prefer not to have the same meal twice in a week but instead will use the extra from the first meal to make something a bit different. Alternatively I will prepare something and freeze it so we won't starve if I'm sick or I get home late.
This week I spread out some cookbooks and clicked through some favourite foodie websites. My husband chose Jill Dupleix's Angelhair with crab and lemon as the new recipe on this week's meal plan. He gets extra bonus points for choosing something quick, easy and light. He usually doesn't!
Photo credit: Betty Crocker by 427
Keep records
My planning system also includes recording each day's meals on our synchronised google calendars. It avoids the mid-day phone call, "what are we having for dinner tonight?" And here it is for you.
Monday:
Garlic and chilli king prawns stir-fried with onion and still crispy red capsicum, green beans and broccoli, lightened with oodles of fresh parsley, served on steamed Basmati (I use Basmati a lot as it is lower GI than other types) rice. I'd prefer brown rice but I haven't won that battle in my household yet.
Tuesday:
Home-made chilli and herb crumbed chicken schnitzels (oven baked), with macaroni cheese, roast grape tomatoes, baked herb field mushrooms, steamed greens. For some reason unknown to me, my macaroni cheese provokes bizarre reactions of rapture amongst my friends and family. My husband regularly begs me to make this, and due to the fact it is so insanely easy, I do indulge him. My version isn't too heavy either - the sauce is a roux enriched with mustard, cheese and herbs and lightened with low-fat milk.
This meal will give me leftovers - extra cooked chicken schnitzels to go into the freezer (I can then pull them out later, defrost in the fridge overnight, then top with a tomatoey sauce and cheese, then chuck under the grill) plus leftover macaroni cheese to have with a salad for lunch on Wednesday.
Wednesday:
Angelhair pasta with crab and lemon plus a simple garden salad. With any luck I'll be able to buy some fresh pasta from the Italian place down the road, but if not I have some decent quality dried pasta in the pantry. I don't mind making my own pasta but I'm better at ravioli or lasagne sheets that don't need as much precision!
I'm not in the office on Wednesday so I can skip over to the fishmonger and then the butcher for tomorrow's dinner.
Thursday:
Seared beef and rice noodle salad. I can make this one in my sleep and it is lovely and fresh and flavourful.
Friday:
My grandmother, my sister and her boyfriend are coming over for dinner to have my famous risotto. This one will have prosciutto, tomato, basil and baby spinach. We'll go heavy on the carbs with some home-made bread and a few simple salads. Dessert is likely to be sorbet and fruit or perhaps some cupcakes if I get time.
Saturday:
Duck salad with rocket and baby spinach, just warm slow-roasted tomatoes, red onion, capsicum and snow peas, drizzled with chilli jam.
Sunday:
On Sunday nights we usually have dinner with my parents or in-laws. Otherwise it'll be a quiet night at home with takeaway Thai or a wood-fired pizza with a few glasses of wine.
If you'd like to see what other people are cooking this week, you'll find more meal plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie and Chive Talkin.
Check back later in the week for recipe reviews and results!
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photo credit: Photoportunity
Each week I like to add some new dishes to the menu.
We do have our favourites that pop up on the meal plan on a regular basis (particularly mid-week) but I enjoy discovering new favourites too.
Here are some great recipes from the blogosphere and beyond that I'll be trying in the next week.
photo credit: Darwin Bell
Emma Knowles' Vietnamese Prawn Salad (Gourmet Traveller): This recipe looks light, fresh and well balanced. As a bonus, you'll find a short, simple ingredients list and minimal preperation and cooking time.
We'll be eating this one outside. Asian food and wine pairing can be tricky, however I think a young grassy sauvignon blanc or perhaps a riesling could work. I expect though that we'll be cracking open a few bottles of Hoegaarden (or Hoegaarden Grand Cru if we're feeling indulgent) instead.
Tips: I've previously successfully substituted brown sugar for palm sugar and if you have good pans I'm sure you can get away with less oil.
Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez's Chana Punjabi (as shared by The Wednesday Chef): Warm, luxurious and enticing, without offending the budget. Store cupboard basics and a few fresh bits and pieces easily picked up on your way home never looked so good!
No you won't be eating this in 15 minutes, but pour yourself and your partner a glass or two of wine while you stir and allow yourself to slow down and relax. There's no complicated prep or advanced cookery magic here. All you need is a bit of time and basic ingredients.
Note: Cilantro is also known as coriander.
photo credit: sea turtle
crispy chewy chocolate chip cookies by Smitten Kitchen: Speaks for itself really, doesn't it? A classic recipe that I'm sure will please everyone.
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photo credit: Bucket of Lemons
This cake is made from very basic fridge/pantry items so you won't be trekking all over for exotic ingredients.
It also has the advantage of being light and indulgent without being high in fat. If you make it to serve 8 people, one slice is less than 4.5g fat, which means you could safely enjoy seconds.
The taste is reminiscent of a baked cheesecake and it is very popular in our house!
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 100g caster sugar
- 3 TB plain flour
- 400g strained Greek yoghurt
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat egg yolks with sugar to a thick, pale cream.
Beat in flour, then yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, until thoroughly combined.
Whisk egg whites until stiff and fold into yoghurt mixture.
Pour into a round, non-stick 23cm baking tin greased with butter.
Bake 50-55 minutes until the top is brown. The cake will puff up like a souffle and then subside.
We tend to serve this with fresh berries but you could certainly eat it plain or drizzle with a little citrus/sugar syrup.
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]]>Ok, so we don't have an elegant matching decoration theme (unless you count half-chewed-by-cats tinsel strewn across the floorboards with baubles and other christmas tree decorations flicked behind the furniture) or an elaborate menu. We do however have plenty of alcohol. And that's important if you've ever met my family.
We're having a cruisy Christmas brunch with none of the trimmings. The menu? Bubbly and freshly squeezed juices, plenty of plump oysters, smoked salmon, bagels, croissants, home-made jams, buttermilk pancakes with lashings of maple syrup, fresh fruit, mince pies, biscuits and jam doughnuts. We'll keep it going with plenty of beer and a barbecue later for those who can be bothered to stick around.
All I need to do tomorrow is chop up the fruit and make and flip a few million pancakes. My long-suffering husband will be in charge of the juice, topping up wine glasses and will then be stuck behind the espresso machine. The rest of the food will be not-so-artfully arranged on the table for everyone to help themselves. There's something beautiful about a non-stressful Christmas.
No matter what you're doing this festive season, I hope it is wonderful and safe and happy. Best wishes to you and yours and here's to a fabulous 2009.
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]]>In the good old days, life was better. Men worked and women stayed home, kept the house, looked after the kids and wore frilly aprons over pretty dresses.
Everyone knew their place and life was simple and modern issues of career vs career and whose turn it is to race from work early to pick the kids up from day care were non-existent. Something like that anyway.
Oh no! Here comes feminism!
Along came feminism and we fought to get away from the sink and into the classroom and boardroom. We did such an awesome job at proving women can and should do anything (more like everything) you could say the choice has almost disappeared in the opposite direction.
If we accept the reality that for many modern relationships, two incomes are required and desired, life becomes a bit tricky. Particularly when you consider there is often little or no functional difference between partners in income and the level of commitment to career (and education).
- So who picks up the kids from day-care when you're both slaving in the office at 7pm in the pursuit for a corner office with a view?
- Who takes the bin out before going to the gym before work?
- Who washes the floor while muttering into a dictaphone on a Sunday afternoon?
The division of labour is all messed up - and with that comes serious risk of conflict of a relationship-killing kind.
People have been harping on about equality for quite a while now. If large corporates and the government can't get it right in the boardroom, what chance have we got in the home, where relationships are under even more pressure?
The Seesaw theory
Now this may well be unpopular, but my view of equality in the home does not involve an equal division of labour.
You can waste a lot of time thinking (often out loud, usually brought up at a completely unrelated moment) that cooking dinner is harder than putting the dishes away. It doesn't matter. It may well be. Arguing about equality achieves absolutely stuff all.
The reality is that in a successful partnership, sometimes one partner will do more. Sometimes the other partner does more. It balances out.
photo credit: bug138
Think of it like a seesaw, if you each push up and down, you're both on the seesaw and sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down. It takes a damn lot of effort to hold the seesaw at even height without one or both falling off.
Could it work?
The way it works in my relationship, and, I suggest might work in yours. Start by working out expectations:
- What does clean mean to each of you?
- What constitutes a weeknight dinner?
Sort out a friendly middle ground. Then each do what you're good at/don't hate too much and outsource whatever is left over.
If you approach it with an open mind it is not that hard to manage. I promise. Be flexible and pick up the slack when the other person has a crazy deadline or is sick or is just sick of it.
If you've got a good partner they'll do the same for you and keep you both on the seesaw.
For more tips for a great relationship, take a look at The Secret Ingredient for a Better Marriage at Zen Habits. It is written by Corey Allen of Simple Marriage.
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